SAY Award's Live at the Longlist event put music lovers first

The 20 albums that have made the SAY longlist will be announced at a special gig with appearances from Emma Pollock and Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite

This year, the first to find out who is in the running to win the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) 2018 award, and the £20,000 prize money, is the music fans themselves. On Wed 1 Aug, the SAY Award Longlist will be revealed in front of a live audience in Glasgow's King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, in keeping with the organisation's grassroots beginnings.

With a massive 253 eligible albums submitted this year, the longlist is cultivated by 100 impartial 'nomintators' from various creative sectors, who rank their top five favourite albums. Once this happens, the albums are given a score, and the 20 highest scoring records make the cut.

The longlist announcement event, dubbed 'Live at the Longlist', features performances from artists who have previously been a part of the awards. Stina Tweeddale, one half of Honeyblood, and Carla J. Easton of TeenCanteen will perform collaboratively; Emma Pollock, previously shortlisted for the awards in 2016 is to play a solo performance; and Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite presents a cinematic DJ set. On hand to announce the 20 albums that have made the longlist will be journalist and broadcaster, Nicola Meighan.

Robert Kilpatrick, General Manager at the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) who produce The SAY Award, said: 'The announcement of The Longlist is without a doubt the most exciting part of The SAY Award campaign… I think this process is what makes being Longlisted really special and valued, and what makes people really want to listen to these great records.'

Tickets for Live at the Longlist go on sale at 10am on Mon 18 Jun and are available at sayaward.com. All proceeds from the event will be donated to Help Musicians Scotland, The SAY Award's charity partner for 2018.